Ever After
by caitewarren
Summary: The daughter David Nolan never knew he had shows up at his door, sweet, kind and orphaned Sera warms herself into the family and Storybrooke. But unbeknownst to everyone she harbors a deep hatred for magic , and is involved in a secret society hell bent on destroying it. Sera Wyatt had no intention of staying and loving her family, putting her in a dangerous position. Set s2
1. Chapter 1

_"I'm going to meet my parents." Her voice was particularly lofty and soft as if she couldn't quite process it herself. She stood in front of the length mirror that was cracked in the upper right and had a layering of dust over it, over analyzing her appearance. Her porcelain hands came to her sides and flattened the muscle tee that rested awkwardly upon her small fame._

_ He, her savior, her love came up from behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his head of gingery hair upon her shoulder nuzzling into her neck. "You know they're the epitome of magic and magic is-_

_ "Malevolent. Unnatural." She recited from memory squirming out of his grasp. "You don't need to remind me, Bash." _

David Nolan found himself staring once again at the photograph of his wife and daughter, an aching sensation formed once more in the pit of his stomach. It'd been nearly two months since he'd last laid eyes upon them, mere hours after he'd been reunited with them before they were sucked away into a spiraling purple vortex into the unknown. His thoughts of pity were interrupted by two loud knocks upon the door. Henry, his grandson, who'd been previously occupied by his handheld game dashed off the sofa calling out _I'll get it!_ as he opened the door to reveal a girl perhaps in her late teens with wavy blackish hair, pale skin and eyes the same shade of blue as his own. She appeared to be mystified by the sight of the pajama clad eleven-year-old who happily greeted her at the door.

"Who are you?" Henry demanded bluntly.

The girl opened her mouth and then shut it, shuffling upon her feet and nervously tucking strains of loose hair behind her ears. Licking her lips she recollected herself, "my name is Sera Wyatt I'm looking for David Nolan er Prince Charming." Her hands collapsed around her the one shoulder strap of her backpack as she offered Henry a small smile.

David strided forward and placed a hand upon Henry's shoulder. "I'm David Nolan. How can I help you?"

Sera looked positively dumbstruck as her mouth gaped open and she stared wide-eyed up at him slightly resembling a fish. "Uhm…uh…..I'myourdaugther." comes rushing out of her mouth in a jumbled up one word mess.

"I'm sorry?"

"I'm your daughter." She squeezed her eyes shut trying not to watch his reaction for fear of rejection.

"Huh 'scuse me?" He uttered out.

Before the girl could answer Ruby and Doc came dashing through the apartment, panting and out of breathe.

"She's telling the truth David!" Ruby called out in-between pants of breath. Doc trailed behind her, wheezing and blotchy red. "Doc confirmed. Snow gave birth to Emma's twin sister as you were carrying Emma to the wardrobe. She didn't escape the curse."

David felt himself spinning. _He had another daughter? _He didn't notice that Sera had knelt to the ground and had pulled out a wrinkled old newspaper out of a manila folder and was offering it to him with a gentle smile and a pleading look to her eyes. One he'd seen upon Snow many a times. "Snow was pregnant with _twins_ but how…what…how are you not still a baby?"

She thrust the article clipping once more. Its headlines dated to the summer of nineteen ninety four, and proclaimed _FOUR-YEAR-OLD CHILD FOUND WONDERING STREETS: DAZED AND CONFUSED. _His eyes couldn't focus on the tiny letters, he found them wondering to the black and white picture of a toddler clutching a tiny teddy bear sitting upon a park bench with a blanket draped over her, her eyes wide and blank.

"Blue thinks she aged slowly because of the same reason Emma could break the curse." Ruby offered softly.

"The Mayor, Gina, gave me the bear," Sera cut in wistfully. "Right before she told me my parents were waiting for me just outside of the town line."

David's nostrils flared, anger searing up inside of his core. Ruby and Henry immediately gripped tightly onto his arms to prevent him from moving forward. _I'm going to make her pay_. Dreading and feeling as though he might know the answer already he looked to his child and asked, "what happened after this? Did you grow up in the foster system too?"

"I was adopted by the Wyatt family….they're all dead now." There was bitterness to her voice as she said this. Perhaps she had not grieved properly for their loss, her hands going up to a golden locket around her neck. "it was about two months ago that I woke up with this massive headache, at first, I thought maybe I'd had a…," she stopped herself when she realized she was in fact talking to her biological father who didn't need to know about her particularly liking of hard liquor and Mike's Hard Lemonade. "I remembered Storybrooke, Gina, the nuns, me leaving and I had to come find you." She stood upon her tip toes, looking beyond David's shoulder in search of her biological mother, the woman Ruby had told her she resembled so closely but to no avail. "Whose he?" She pointed to the kid who'd answered the doors who'd been silent during the whole exchange.

David smirked in spite of himself. "Your nephew, Henry."

**A/N: I own nothing except for the original characters. This was set during the middle of season 2 and will explore the "Home Office" in a different manner. Let me know what you think and if it's worth continuing. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Set during the celebrations at Granny's in "Child of the Moon" **

Henry had taken it upon himself to explain everything and everyone in grand detail, using the book as reference and a picture guide to his newfound Aunt. Sera nodded and titled her heads at all of the right moments appearing to be enthralled with his tales but it seemed her attention was elsewhere, her eyes wondered and her breathing uneven as if it all were too much to bear.

"How about some ice cream sundaes?" David interrupted. Henry trailed off about his tale of Archie and nodded enthusiastically. 

Sera could feel herself sinking further into her seat. It'd been a long time since she'd sat in a booth apart of a unit, a family, and the burning sensation nipping at her core was making her squirm uncomfortably. _You had a family, remember? Anna-Maria? Clyde? Your brother Evan! _The voices inside of her head screamed in protest, _don't, you can't get too comfortable, and they're magic. _She caught David once again staring critically at her, as if the answer to his inquiry would shine upon her forehead.

"No?" he asked in disbelief. "alrighty, then but you're missing out." He pegged down the waiter, who happily took their order and offered Sera a toothy grin and a pat on the back. "I have a question," he stated suddenly. His strong hands playing with some of his left over French fries, "how did you know that Snow and I were your parents?"

"When the Mayor sent me over the town border…," She paused for a moment. The memories were still a bit hazy, "she told me my mother was Snow White and she was singing to the birds in the woods…..and when I remembered after Emma broke the curse it wasn't a hard guess to figure out who my father is, Prince Charming." Saying the words aloud made her feel sheepish and foolish.

Before her father has a chance to respond an older austere looking man lumbered over to their table standing beside her. His austere face angrily glaring over the pair, something dead and unnerving about him.

"And who's this Sheriff?" Albert Spencer asked casually for a moment forgetting the real reason why he'd come. The tension between the two seemed to be escalating by the moment, their eyes locking onto each other's with a level of such distain.

"Sera Wyatt, sir," she stood brushing off some of the crumbs from her jeans before shuffling past him. "I'll be going now….." David opens his mouth to say something but she cuts him off, "I need to go for a walk, get some fresh air."

"Take Henry with you. He knows his way around town."

**Once Upon A Time**

It's in the pestering way her nephew keeps asking questions despite her grunted out responses through clenched teeth that reminds her of Evan. He's just a bit older than Evan was when he was taken but nothing stops her from imaging it was her little brother walking alongside her in the streets of Ardent, Maine leaving behind their parents who'd been partaking in WWIII for as long as she could remember.

"You haven't answered my question." Henry's voice comes out loudly, breaking her flood of imaginary thoughts. "What's your favorite fairytale?"

"Well, wouldn't I have to be a bit biased? Seeing as Snow White and Prince Charming are my parents?"

"They're my grandparents but I still like Peter Pan best."

Sera could feel her stomach clench painfully, twisting and churning inside of her. She swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat and clenched and unclenched her fists. _Keep walking, Bash is waiting, keep walking, don't think, don't think_, _focus on the present, on the mission_.

"I'm guessing you're not a fan." Henry mused smugly as if he'd discovered some sort of deep dark secret and perhaps he had. "Who's that?"

The silhouette of a shadow could be seen hunched over and shivering in the brisk Maine air. A backpack rested beside him and he seemed to be intensely gazing out towards the desolate highway. She strided forward and his head whipped around at the sound of her heavy footsteps when she crossed over the town boarder. He reached her and enveloped her in one of his warm bone gripping bear hugs and she for the first time since entering the town let out a sigh of relief as she nuzzled her head into the crook of his neck, raving in its familiarity. His lips pressed softly to her temple and lingered there. Upon hearing her nephew clear his throat, _pesky little booger_, Sera broke away from him.

"This is my nephew Henry. Henry this is my boyfriend Sebastian Bennett."

Bash furrowed his eyebrows together. "You have a nephew?" His voice mingled in disbelief and happiness, eyeing the boy who was sending distrusting daggers back at him.

"My sister's kid," she awkwardly and gently clasped his shoulder. The pair shared a tense handshake which lasted all of about three seconds. He'd wanted to check up on her, check up on their mission but with Henry within earshot they exchanged pleasantries, he'd ask how her parents were, she'd ask how his job at the Deli was going and in an odd way it reminded her of their first mission together.

**Once Upon A Time**

The pale round moon hung behind them as they lumbered towards the apartment. Henry alternated skipping and slightly jogging to keep up with her fast pace. David was waiting up for them in the apartment, sipping slowly at his hot chocolate two other lukewarm mugs rested beside him.

"I was about to send out a search party for the two of you." He stated jokingly though there's a slight seriousness sternness underlying in his tone. "where'd you go?"

"Around." Sera said as Henry chimed in with, "the town border."

David chooses to look to the ever earnest Henry for the truth. For the most part he could tell that his newly discovered daughter had been truthful but had left some things very vague, like where she'd been living since her adoptive father's incarceration nearly two years ago, course, she never said that he was in prison for two attempts of aggravated assault and one charge of drinking under the influence but she didn't need to know he'd spent the afternoon using the sheriff's computer to dig up information on her. Aside from Clyde Wyatt's arrest record, he'd found the missing persons report for Evan Wyatt which had been filed nearly five years ago and he was declared dead in _absentia_.

"Henry why were you at the town border?" He inquired.

"To meet Sera's bo-friend, friend," Henry amended upon receiving silent glares from his Aunt but the intention was quite clear.

_Boyfriend_. The word burned a hole in the pit of his stomach as he thought about both of his daughters being involved with boys, Emma had Henry in jail at the age of eighteen and now his eighteen-year-old daughter had a boyfriend who she was sneaking out to see at the town border. When Snow was pregnant, she'd always joke he'd meet Emma's suitor with a sword in hand but perhaps in this land it would be a shotgun.

"So you have a boyfriend?" there's a playful fatherly tease in his voice but it's not a joke, he needs an answer. Sera plopped herself down upon one of the stools and sipped at the whipped cream hoping it'd buy some time before she'd have to actually give an answer. "is he honorable?"

Sera snorted. "With all due respect, Prince Charming, this isn't the enchanted forest. I wouldn't say he's a chivalrous prince with a gleaming sword and a hero complex I would say he has been kind to me and helped me get through some difficult times. I'd say you could meet him but you can't cross over the border and he can't come into town."

"He knows?" David asked.

"He's trustworthy."

**Once Upon A Time-**_**5 Years Ago-Ardent, Maine **_

_ The sound of bellowing from the floor below and glass crashing was keeping thirteen-year-old Serafina up. She pulled her knees up to her chest and turned to her side facing away from the door that was only open a small slither, the mellow light from the hallway beamed inside. Her fingers threaded the quilt gripping tightly to them as the voices grew louder, praying, that they'd just stop. Wordlessly, her nine-year-old brother shuffled into the room and clamored into bed beside her, curling into her. Without turning her shoulder she laced her hand into his, squeezing it tightly trying to say it's alright, it's okay but he seemed to have his own ideas. _

_ "The shadow is going to take me to Neverland." He whispered dreamily. "It won't take you because you're a girl." _

_ Sera sighed, letting out an exasperated yawn. "The shadow isn't real, Ev. But you and I will make it out of here, five years buddy, five years and I'll take us both far away." _

_ "I'm going to Neverland." _

_ Groaning she rolled over to face him. His wide-set doe eyes bore into her underneath a mop of silvery blonde curls, a smile tugging at the ends of his lips. Keeping their hands intertwined she used her other hand to brush back some of his bangs gingerly the way their mother used to before she lost all sorts of tenderness in her being when he succumbed to his alcoholism. Eight years sober, gone, all a in a night. Speaking in a slow manner as though he was five years old once again she said, "Peter Pan is not real. Shadows aren't real. Neverland is not real." _

_ "You're wrong." Evan muttered. "The Shadow it's real. I've spoken to it." _

_ Giving up she gave into her exhaustion and let her heavy eyelids droop over. She's almost into a deep sleep when she feels a tiny finger poking into her shoulder, repeatedly and a soft whispering in her ear. A brisk air settled over her as she creaked one of her eyes open, catching her first glimpse of the demon silhouette, it's glowing yellow eyes the only thing that was not the epitome of darkness. Its wispy hand was interlocked into Evan's who put a finger to his mouth. _

_ She doesn't remember clamoring out of the entanglement of sheets, dashing across her bed or jumping out of the window but she remembers the sensation of fallen, screaming as she fell into the bushes below, in agony and out of breathe she watched as her brother disappeared into the night sky towards the Second Star to the Right. _


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: At the guest who reviewed yes you are right, Serafina was born moments before the curse struck and was brought to Storybrooke along with the other inhabitants of the Enchanted Forest and due to being a product of true love she grew, albeit, slowly. I made a mathematical era in the first chapter, Sera was meant to be found wondering along the road in 1998 not 1994, since she's supposed to be eighteen and it's 2012 in the story. **

It took Sera longer than she'd like to admit to realize it that it was someone else screaming and not her. Years of being woken by terrified shrieking had left her accustomed to it. It takes her another few seconds to realize there's another voice in the loft that does not belong to the pre-pubescent Henry or the manly deep princely voice of David. Stiffly she discerns it as a woman's voice.

"Is that a burn?" the voice is firm, demanding and laced with concern. Henry lets out an incoherent yelp. "Henry, what's going on?"

Though she'd been offered a bed but she'd opted for the sofa not wishing to sleep in the bed of her sister or disrupt the other sleeping arrangements. She rolled her legs over the side of her bed and lethargically began to drag them along the wooden floor stopping short when she came across, "Gina?" the childish blurb comes hurtling out of her mouth before she could stop it. The Mayor whirled around and a mixed face of confusion drew across her face. She didn't recognize her as the tiny child dressed in clothing that was much too big for her frame clutching the brown teddy bear but her mind didn't linger on her shared past with the Mayor as Henry looked tearfully up at her, his lips frozen in mid-quiver and clutching his arm close to his chest in a protective maneuver.

Moving to her backpack that'd been discarded by the door she pulled out a First Aide Kit, Bash's smug voice _singsong _in her head, _you'll never know when you're gonna need it_ and didn't bother to acknowledge Regina as she plopped down on Henry's bed and with gentle arms began to smooth cream over it, soothing him as he winced in pain before she began to apply the bandages, a cold hand gripped onto her arm.

"Wait, I wish for Rumpelstiltskin to look at those."

"The imp?" Sera scoffed.

"The magical Imp." And with that she strutted out of the apartment calling over her shoulder, _watch him_, and slamming the door. As though he were Evan she placed a kiss to his temple.

He flinched away. "Why'd you do that?"

"You're my nephew." She answered simply turning away from him so he could not see the redness that was forming upon her cheeks. _Damn being the daughter of Snow White and inheriting the skin as white as snow part_. His storybook rested upon the table catching her interest as she ran her fingers along its Gold lettering upon its leather cover. "Emma and I, are we in the book?"

Henry slumped off the bed and ran towards the book, flipping hastily to the end where a few pieces were missing. His fingers ran along the torn edges, thoughtfully, "Emma was but I ripped it out so the Evil Queen, Regina, couldn't know about the Savoir," frowning he regarded her gently, "you weren't mentioned but maybe the writer didn't get the chance to put you in. Not even Grandpa knew about you, he was carrying my baby mom off to the wardrobe, fighting off at least like a dozen guards while doing so!"

She forced a smile upon her face at his enthusiasm. _You're not in the book because you're not like them. You're not magical, you're not unnatural, you're not some sort of savoir freak like Emma is. You have a mission. Don't be hurt, don't cry, don't be upset_.

**Once Upon A Time**

_"Can I ask you something Mr. er uhm Gold?" Sera asked hastily as she dashed after him, making sure to close the door behind her. The imp, who presently no longer looked impish turned around upon his cane and regarded her with a tight smile that didn't seem to reach his eyes at all. "You prophesized that Em-my sister would be the savoir, would return to Prince Charming and Snow White upon her twenty-eightieth birthday and break the curse did you see anything of me?" Her voice quivered more than she liked it, betraying the turmoil that was eating away at her insides. The jealousy mingling in the bitterness of the thoughts of Emma, the blonde woman whose smiling face taunted her, the woman who'd saved them all, who'd been saved by their parents. "Am I a-_

_ Mr. Gold shook his head and clicked his tongue, "a savoir? No dearie," his head moved in a nearly mechanical eerie manner, "no I saw something much more destructive in your future, what exactly, I assure you I have not a single fathom of an idea." _

"Perhaps it means we'll be successful in eradicating magic from this land." Bash whispered into her ear, tightening his grasp around her. They stood just over the _Welcome to Storybrooke Sign_, his old Saturn parked on the side of the road, and its front door still slung half-open as he'd seen the tears running down her face. "you're nothing of destruction to me," he grazed his hands over her upper arms gently, "you're everything that is pure and light, you must believe that you are a benevolent force in this wicked world, Serafina Marie Wyatt and must not listen to Imps who do not belong here."

She hiccupped slightly as she wiped away the tears that had been dribbling down her face, scowling when she saw the blackness that stained them. Her breathing had evened out somewhat and she let the last sob rack her body before stiffening up and breaking lose of him. "I don't know what overcame me."

"Emotion, Sera. You're allowed to feel something in this mission; you have rather personal ties to it." He chuckled as he shrugged out of his windbreaker and rested it upon her slight shoulders. "The Home office is quite pleased with you, you know? But you must find a way to let outsiders enter the town's borders; it's the motherload of magic, the epicenter."

"I don't know how I would do that. There's some kind of magic and I have no desire to drabble in it. Is there anyway I can do it by myself?"

There was a slightly prideful gleam to his golden eyes. He shook his head, his chestnut curls bouncing along with it. "It's not meant for one person. We must be patient. The answers will come to us."

"Hopefully."

David Nolan's truck puttered up to the town border, his teeth grinding and his hands gripping the wheel so tightly his knuckles were white. He was adorned only in his ratty grey shirt and blue sweats, one of Henry's nightmares had roused him and brought the jovial news that Snow and Emma were indeed alive. Gleefully he'd gone to wake his daughter in a giddy motion he shook the lump of pillows that had been set in her place and felt his stomach sink. She'd been living with him for less than forty-eight hours and had snuck away twice to see this boyfriend of hers, there was a part of him fuming and another part trying to understand.

"There they are!" Henry exclaimed pointing wildly in the direction of the sign but whatever he was seeing David only saw blackness.

Perhaps another side-effect of the curse, deciding not to linger any further upon it he placed the truck into park and climbed out of it. Feeling quite foolish he began to shout in the direction of where Henry had pointed. "Sera, I get that you're legally an adult but this whole sneaking off in the middle of the night, it can't happen…," tersely he added, "sweetheart," the term of endearment was perhaps a bit too much. He could hear a suckling in of breathe from one person and the other person chuckled, a manly chuckle. "you can see your boyfriend but it has to be during reasonable hours, like daylight to dusk, not nearly three am."

"I think you should go back, Sera." Bash whispered.

David tried his best to ignore the sound of kissing between the pair. He could feel the heat burning in his cheeks, _she's not a baby_, and he tries to reason with himself but to no avail. The murderous thoughts of running this Bash through with a sword still chorused throughout his mind and were only interrupted when Sera reappears over the border, jubilantly walking and to rather his surprise she wrapped her arms around his middle and buried her head into his chest. She was considerably petite seemingly she hadn't inherited his height but rather took after his mother, Ruth, who he'd figured would be around the same height. Revealing in the warmth, he wrapped around arm around her torso, resting his chin upon her head and used his other hand to cradle her head of ebony curls.

"I'm sorry." She mumbled into his chest. "I haven't had parents, someone I had to obey, and someone who I could disappoint in a long time."

"You could never disappoint me." He whispered reassuringly. The embrace lasted only mere seconds later, she broke away first, offering him a sheepish smile before interlocking her arm into his and tugging him along to the truck.


End file.
